Prince of Wales landlord "not a violent man", committee hears

The landlord of a Tilehurst pub where police officers were trapped inside, was "not a violent man", a licensing hearing was told.

Andrew Parker was arrested on suspicion of affray after the incident involving 30 police officers on January 8.

Matthew Phipps, representing the Prince of Wales pub, told the Reading Borough Council committee that he had "to tread carefully" in talking about the incident but claimed the summary of evidence was "unreliable" and was consistently "just pushing it a litle bit too far".

The hearing to decide whether the pub in School Road keeps its licence had heard that officers armed with Taser stun guns were trapped inside.

They called for back-up but when other police units arrived, officers were denied entry.

They eventually smashed their way in through a window. An inspection the next day found high readings of cocaine traces in the toilets.

Other incidents when police were called to trouble at the pub have been presented to the committee but Mr Phipps told councillors some facts were wrong.

He said: "The fight with 30 people in October last year. That's wrong." He said it had involved just three people.

He said it was disappointing that there was evidence of drugs on the premises, bu said a "zero reading was not particularly common".

Reading Borough Council said Mr Parker had been licensee from June 20, 2014 and manager back to 2012 but Mr Phipps told the hearing that Emma Parker - nee Mead - was in fact the designated premises supervisor until January 14.

He said: "She wasn’t at the premises as much as she should have been.

"I am not saying the DPS postion was perfect but I am saying the presentation in the summary isn’t correct and isn’t fair."

Mr Phipps aid that overall the licensees acted well in dealing with trouble at the Prince of Wales "but let themselves down" on the night of January 8.

He admitted the compliance visit after the incident revealed breaches of the condition of the license which were "regrettable and embarrassing training failures" but there was nothing to warrant revoking it.